SC asks CoA to prepare draft of new BCCI constitution (Lead)

New Delhi, Aug 23 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Committee of Administrators (CoA) managing the affairs of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to prepare the draft of a new constitution on the basis of its directions based on the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee recommendations that it has endorsed.

A bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that the draft constitution would be based on its directions of July 18, 2016 and its order of July 24, 2017 by which it had agreed to re-examine the one state one vote principle, the strength of the selection committee and the status of associate members.

The court ordered that the draft constitution will be prepared by August 30.

Posting the matter for Septembers 19, the court said a copy of the draft constitution would be given to all the counsel representing the BCCI, State associations, Railways and Association of Indian Universities and others.

All of them are seeking the modification of the Justice Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

The court said that all these entities will file in writing their objections, if any, to the draft constitution and amicus curiae would prepare a chart of all of them and also file a response to them.

The court said that objections raised by the those seeking modification “must have an acceptable sanctity and not just for the sake of raising”.

The court said that the two vacancies in the CoA caused by the resignation of historian Ramachandra Guha and Vikram Limaye would be filled up on the next date of hearing in September.

The court also issued notice to acting BCCI president C.K. Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry asking them to explain why none of Justice Lodha Committee recommendations had been implemented, saying “this shuttling and re-shuttling will not be allowed”.

“We expect that barring three issues rest of the recommendations will be implemented,” Justice Misra said.

At the outset of the hearing, amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium said that the BCCI’s special general body meeting on July 26 did nothing to implement the court’s order on the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations.

Subramanium told the court that Justice Sen, who was present in the meeting said that “the whole meeting seems to be not to implement the Justice Lodha Committee recommendations”.